Paddy McHugh (Galway East, Independent)

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this matter because it is of critical importance to the towns of Dunmore and Kilkerrin in my constituency of Galway East. These towns are seeking modern sewerage schemes which would serve their expanding populations. After much lobbying and work done locally, limited progress was made in this matter. Both schemes were approved for funding by the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government's water services investment programme for 2005-07.

In September 2005 the tender recommendations for the construction of the collection networks for both schemes were approved by the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. The collection networks for both towns are substantially complete. The tender documents for the design build operate treatment plants have not yet been approved so the project cannot proceed. While 50% of the modern sewerage system for both towns, comprising the collection system and the treatment system, has been allowed to proceed, the remaining 50% has not been approved. The pipes are in the ground but the waste matter cannot flow to an end receptacle or treatment plant.

If this was not so serious it would laughable. This is the greatest example of gombeen planning. Where is the strategic planning the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government would have us believe exists in Government? How did the Department allow this to happen? How can the Minister stand over this slipshod behaviour and who is responsible for this debacle? Dunmore and Kilkerrin have been deprived of basic infrastructure for too long. They cannot expand and progress as other towns have done. Builders and developers willing to invest cannot get planning permission for developments, a totally unacceptable situation. Have the tender documents been approved? Can the Minister of State give an undertaking that they will be approved immediately? If Galway County Council must supply further information, can this be demanded immediately? How can documentation prepared by consultants, approved by local authority officials and forwarded to the Department be found unsatisfactory? Can a phone call not be made to clarify a point, sanction the documentation and move on? Our rural towns must make progress, red tape must be eliminated and gombeen processing of projects must be stopped. We must move into the modern world of efficiency and strategic planning.

The tender document for the design build operate element of the contract was forwarded to the Department in 2005. At the Department's request it was revised and resubmitted in January 2006. It has remained in the Department since. I fear the Minister of State will tell us that additional information is being sought from Galway County Council. If that is the case, someone is negligent. The Minister of State should inform us if that is the case and outline the action intended by the Minister to eliminate incompetence and approve these projects for the people of Dunmore and Kilkerrin.

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